Unsettled

KIRYAT ARBA, WEST BANK: Israeli police forcibly evicted dozens of Jewish squatters from a West Bank settlement as the army continues its withdrawal. Israel's Labor government had ordered homes in the Ashmoret Yitzhak neighborhood of town left empty as part of its curb on construction of new Jewish settlements on the West Bank. The squatters, who believe that the West Bank is part of the biblical land promised to Jews, were warned by government officials to move last week. Some settlers resisted, but no blows were exchanged as hundreds of police broke open doors and windows and dragged the settlers from the homes. The squatters, who had earlier refused an offer for alternative housing elsewhere in the town, were then bussed to police station for questioning. A police spokesman said several dozen officers would occupy the homes, to be used as a base for the Israeli army after they pull out of the nearby Palestinian town of Hebron in March.